Haki... A power that felt as natural to Kuja warriors like Linnea, but so alien to others who didn't, until they learned about it. Ever since they entered the Grand Line, she had started coming upon Haki users that weren't Kuja, which worried the Uroboros captain more than anything. Nothing could quite make her worry like the well being of her crewmembers and this was yet another perfect example of that. So, she had announced she would be teaching all of them Haki: Even those who failed to learn it would be able to recognize its use if they came upon it, which was better than nothing.

The weather was lovely and, the seas and winds dead calm... Though it was a perfect weather for laying under the sun and catching some sunbeams, the lack of wind made it god awful for any attempted sailing, thus prompting Linnea to decide to move up the schedule on her Haki lessons. Hiding in between reefs as they were, it wasn't likely any Marines would be getting the jump on them, and so she took care of getting everything ready for the training session. Kenbunshoku Haki was easy enough to train, but training busoshoku without people breaking limbs by trying to test it wasn't nearly as hard. She had her share of blindfolds for the former, and had set up wooden training dummies crafted from the wreckage of a Marine vessel they had sunk a few days back. The blue on the training dummies would surely help them feel more motivated.

For now, most of the grunts were off to their card games and whatnot on the lower decks, as were the remaining fighters of the crew... Lin sighed... She couldn't exactly teach a lesson without students now, could she? What could everyone be up to that was more important than learning Haki?! All in all, she looked ready for a fight: Wearing full battle gear, Linnea had her quiver stocked up with arrows and her bow strapped to her back, and wore her signature ranger's dress, still colored white.

With absolutely nothing to do, Linnea simply took to doing what she did best: Waiting. She laid face up on the deck, closed her eyes, and activated her Kenbunshoku. Keeping it active allowed her to be mindful of any threats: Even if there shouldn't be any nearby, she didn't survive this far by dropping her guard. Who would come up on the main deck first, she wondered?

Haki. Nicholas had heard of that ability, though he didn't quite know what to make of it. There was just something about a person's spirit being so strong that one could tap into it to effect the world around them. He had seen Linnea use it plenty of times to detect enemies, and in Enies Lobby had seen Melissa use it to completely floor a small army of marine, just through sheer force of will. Now, Nicholas considered himself strong spirited. After all, if he wasn't, he wouldn't have left Minion Island all those years ago, wouldn't have lived in the factory island of Spider Mile before traversing the blues in a rickety little boat. He wouldn't have joined up with the Uroboros Pirates and wouldn't have done half the crazy things he did in Enies Lobby if he had a weak spirit. By that logic, he should easily be able to tap into it to do something.

But it wasn't that simple was it? It never was. One didn't just need a strong spirit to do what his captain and first mate had done. What one needed was the ability to actually wield it. Something he had never been able to do or figure out.

When Linnea offered to give Haki lessons, the navigator actually hesitated for a moment. Nicholas Edison, hesitating! Maybe it was because after seeing his superiors perform such insane feats, he thought that he himself, a regular, if not very intelligent man, wouldn't be able to perform the same thing. Maybe a part of him was simply afraid of failure. To be nothing more than one of the 'Uroboros Pirates' instead of a beast in his own right. Naturally, it had taken the flashy, strong headed young man to knock those thoughts from his mind and head up to the deck to take part in these lessons.

He came up on deck, not wearing his coat but in his regular shirt and pants. No sense in having a flashy coat for stuff like this. This was simply training after all. He was a little surprised to see nobody else up here, and his captain simply laying back on the deck, taking what appeared to be a nap. Was nobody else interested in this? Did Linnea decide to cancel the lessons and take a cat nap instead? Nicholas slowly approached his captain, looking down at her. "You awake?" he asked.

The seagulls chirped in the skies above, no doubt signalling proximity to an island. Ennies Lobby no doubt? They hadn't strayed that far from that island. Linnea couldn't see them with her eyes closed like this, but thanks to her Haki she could see them as clearly as she heard them. Sadly, she wasn't here to teach the seagulls... Cry as they might, they would not be allowed. Well, it's not like they wanted too anyway. Sengoku joined in the squaking every now and then, him she might attempt to teach, but alas he had no desire for such. The captain could only wonder which of her allies would be the first to display one such interest, but she hoped they all would, in time.

Thankfully, she was right. Somebody was interested in learning Haki enough to show up at the deck before everybody else: Flashdance, their navigator. She felt him coming with her own Haki, and indeed she knew Kenbunshoku would be the ideal way to start. Once he learned it, he would understand why nobody ever caught his Captain off guard, especially by surprise. Of course, rare moments where she was devoid of Haki would be a lot more troublesome. Regardless, once he called out to her from up close she simple opened her eyes, a soft smile appearing on her lips as she answered, "Yes. I was wondering when would somebody show up...", she stood up and pulled her hood off and eyeing her navigator resolutely, "Before we start, you must have a clear understanding of what you are about to learn. Haki is a power every living creature posesses, though only Amazons like myself are taught to use it the same way they learn to walk, speak or fight. There's more than one way to use it, but to master either of them, you require the same strength: Unshakable resolve, a complete absence of doubt."

With this she would grab one of the blindfolds and put it in front of her eyes, setting up the first demonstration, "First, is Kenbunshoku Haki. Come, try to land a punch on me, and you'll understand exactly how you can use it!"

Keeping her hands in her pockets, Linnea's body language showed no form of battle stance, for either offense or defense.

B-rank kenbu active

OOC: Start counting your words, you need 1000 to learn haki and 700 to reach a level where you can actually use it

Nicholas remained quiet as Linnea explained to him what haki was. An ability everyone possessed, but not everyone could access. All it took was unshakable resolve (which, if anybody knew Nicholas, knew he had resolve in abundance). However, the second thing gave him pause. Absolutely no doubt. There were times when Nicholas found himself doubting himself. Then again, those times were when he had to compare himself to Linnea and Melissa, both insanely powerful in their own right. He had to quietly remind himself that one of those two deadly beauties was teaching him an ability that would put him more on her level. She wouldn't just teach this to anybody, would she? No, she wouldn't. The same reason she had him as her navigator. After all, he was Nicholas Edison, and his name would be remembered throughout the world.

He watched as Linnea blind folded her eyes and then asked him her request. Try to strike her. Nicholas paused for a moment. He knew this was a demonstration, and odds were she was going to do something to defend herself against the strike. Anyone could see that. Still, Nicholas wasn't going to make this easy for her. He remained still for a moment, slowly crouching down and very, very slowly inching his way around her. If her haki abilities were as impressive as she made them out to be, she should still know he was there, but if she was going to give a demonstration, really show what it could do.

He inched around until he was almost behind her. A bit behind and to her right. Suddenly, he kicked himself off of the deck and shot towards her, swinging a foot out to catch her in the side. It was time to see just what this Kenbunshoku Haki could do.

Even with her eyes closed, Linnea had a calm, confident smirk in her eyes. Kenbunshoku was by far her strongest Haki ability (even if she could only use two of them). Flash did what was supposed to, plan and throw an attack that would leave her no means of hearing or feeling it coming. But she could see him: She saw every step he took as he tried to reposition himself around her, no doubt looking for a blind spot just in case the Captain had any way to peek through her blindfold (which she didn't). While the ranger herself all but waited, static, immobile. She accompanied her student's movements until he stopped roughly behind her.

And when he finally dashed forward to attack her, she already knew how he would move: Telegraphing the attack perfectly, she took a single step forward and leaned her hips in the opposite direction, allowing the attack to pass by her with only a few narrow inches between his foot and her body, the kind of precision one could never dream of achieving without being fully aware of every detail behind his attack: "Master this type of Haki, and you'll be able to see your enemies' attacks even before they launch them, by feeling their aura. Speed, power, direction... Instead of reacting when your foe actually launches the attack, you can react the moment they plan it.", explained Linnea, facing Flash with her eyes yet covered in the wake of his first attack. She naturally expected him to attack a few more times, expecting the first to be a fluke

At least that what Melissa did, and even then she would up realizing the limits of the other type of Haki, which Flash would be learning before long....

Sure, he figured that his captain had seen the attack coming, but still, to see her move so surely, and to dodge his attack like that (He knew she could have just easily moved to the side, and just moved as minimally as possible to show off). There was no doubt that she was sensing his attacks. Though she expected him to attack her again, he simply held off. There really wasn't any need for a further demonstrations. He simply took a step back, listening to Linnea's words regarding her ability. "It's quite impressive," he said, looking at his blindfolded captain, "Though now I'm curious as to just how you're doing that. I mean, I can throw kicks at you and you can dodge them all day, but that doesn't exactly help me do that."

As he stood there, waiting for Linnea's response, he began pondering just how she was doing this. Was it some sort of meditation? Nah, that tended to involve you sitting down and concentrating on yourself. Not exactly good for detecting those around you. Was this like that 'third eye' stuff he had heard about regarding martial artists? Nah, couldn't be. Linnea only had two eyes. Not that she wouldn't look bad with three eyes mind you.

Flash took a step back after the initial attack, it turned out that he didn't really need further demonstration like Melly; then again he had seen Linnea pull this off time and time again, so its not like he would require that much further cofirmation. Seeing he had no interest to attack anymore and confirm the power of the ability, Lin just smiled and took off her blindfold, approaching Nicky and looking into his eyes for a moment... She liked his resolve, he seemed more determined than usual. No doubt he had already realized how important that resolve would be in order to master his Captain's trademark ability (which wouldn't seem as tademark the deeper they ventured into the Grand Line.

"For this, you'll need to clear your mind. Take a deep breath, and close your eyes. Focus on a single point on your forehead.", Linnea advised, scooting closer to her navigator and slowly wrapping the blindfold around his eyes. After this was done, she would back away, "As you clear your mind, it will slowly attempt to make up for its loss of sight, using a sixth sense you never even know you posessed. You might not see your enemies' form, but you should see their presence."

Linnea as now roughly ten meters away from Flash, and her eyes would narrow as she'd begin the next stage of her training. In order to shock Flash into awakening his Haki, she would use the most effective method she knew: Kenbunshoku Haki is stronger the more intense your enemy's killing intent. She would approach him stealthily, using the most silent step she could, and keeping her mind focused on that singular goal: She would strike to kill. She would naturally stop herself before she succeded, but the killing intent was there and with Flash unable to see or hear her, this would shock his Kenbunshoku into awakening. When she got within melee range if him, she'd unleash a mighty upwards strike, putting every muscle in her body into this punch, aimed at his throat. If she went through with that action, even a light and not physically imposing woman like her could kill a man twice her size, and she knew it.

With her dextrerity and coordination however, she would easily stop an inch away from her mark, her expression softening again, but hopefully Flash would have been able to see it coming and dodge without her help...

So, this haki business was like some sort of meditation. But if you had to close your eyes and clear your mind and all that stuff, how was she able to so effectively use it in battle. Guess once you got used to it it becomes instinctual or something. She did say that she grew up learning this stuff.

Clearing his mind however would prove rather difficult for him. Despite what some people would think of him, Nicholas was one to survive on his wits, and thus his mind was always active. Hell, even as Linnea placed the blindfold, he was resisting the urge to crack a joke. He could hear her voice clearly enough, hear her taking a step back. Even though he was blindfolded, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear his thoughts, as hard a task as that was. He tried her advice, focusing on a particular point on his forehead.

Needless to say, it wasn't easy. His mind was ablaze with numerous thoughts and ideas. It was taking all his effort just to drown them out, to silence them and allow his mind to become empty. Even as he focused on the spot on his forehead, his mind kept trying to drift off, to think of something, especially about the haki he was learning. How would he know when it worked? What was he supposed to do when he 'sensed' her? What was he to suspect? She said it would be without sight, so he wasn't expecting any visual clue. Was it like pins and needles or something? Just how precise was thi-HOLY SHIT!

All of a sudden, before he even realized it, Nicholas found himself backing away and fast. He didn't know why, but it was like some sort of shock to his system, something inside that just screamed at him to move. It was like when he saw an enemy attack coming his way, but the rest of his senses didn't seem to pick up on it. Hell, he was so absorbed in clearing his mind he had completely ignored everything around him.

As he stumbled back, his hand immediately went up to grab the blindfold, pulling off to see just what the hell had caused such a reaction. His eyes squinted as the bright light shone in them, before he could see want was in front of him. Linnea, standing right where Nicholas had been, her fist outstretched to throat height. Though her expression was soft, there was no doubting what she was doing. "Were you trying to teach me, or kill me?" Nicholas blurted out, more shaken up by the strange feeling that had gone through him, rather than the fact that his captain had tried to punch him. Was that what Haki was? Was that was Linnea and Melissa felt like every time they used this?

Her little strategy worked just as expected. The moment she launched such an attack with such a blatant killings intent, flash reacted on pure instinct, even devoid of any prior experience with haki. He leapt back just as Linnea launched her attack, pulling off his blindfold with a frantic, startled look in his eyes.

"What you just used was definitely Kenbunshoku Haki. Remember that feeling, the power to sense one's presence from your willpower alone", she smiled kind and reassuringly, before doing the same with her words. She had used an efficient, but brutal method, "Im sorry... But your sensory and especially your predictive ability gets stronger with your foes killing intent. Don't worry, I could never harm you like that on purpose and my reflexes are pretty good. Put the blindfold back on and try to focus on my position. You should be able to feel my aura completely now..."

With this, Linnea stood still and awaited for Nicky's next attempt. She would get ready for a nod, a positive signal of some kind on his part. Once she had it, she would explain the next stage of their training. More than having to take minutes to prepare and only being able to use it, he would need to be able to use it fluidly, sometimes even when trying to attack. But first, they would focus on his defense.

"See if you're able to try to dodge my punches with the slightest movement you possibly can.", she explained, "Get used to doing this, and you can not only save your enemy, but time your counters at the best possible moment."

If Flash was ready, she would throw a punch at him, with the speed and power he might expect of an average, untrained human woman. She would follow this up with another punch, gradually increasing speed so long as he was able to dodge, eventually reaching her maximum speed (T3)

So that was it huh? That was haki. He wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but he hadn't been expecting something like that. Still, it was good to see that his captain wasn't really out to kill him, though the thought of that now seemed ridiculous. He was the only one capable of reading a log pose after all. Guess the whole punch thing was just a sort of 'tough love' thing to shock it into his systems. Well, it worked at least.

Calming himself, he took the blindfold and wrapped it back around his eyes, against subjecting himself to darkness. However, something about this was different this time. While before, he really couldn't feel anything, now he could almost feel his captain's presence in front of him. At first, he thought it was because he knew she was standing there, and it was just his mind remembering that. But this feeling, it was something new. Was this also haki, now awakened inside of him?

Before he could dwell on this new sensation, she felt Linnea suddenly close in, felt that sharp feeling of 'dodge' he felt before, though not as strong. Nicholas moved to the side, avoiding the first punch, but the feeling still persisted. He continued to stumble back, trying to avoid the blows coming his way. He could sense them coming, but he wasn't sure just how precise his sensory abilities were (and considering he only just got them, he figured it wasn't that good) he settled for widely dodging instead of the slight movements she had done earlier.

Unfortunately, as Linnea picked up speed, there was only so fast Nicholas could move while blindfolded. He was so focused on dodging Linnea's punches he almost stumbled over a bucket laying on the ground. The result was a hard punch catching him in the face, knocking him flat. Nicholas groaned in pain, his hand instantly reaching for his nose, somewhat relieved that she hadn't broken it. "Man, think you could ease up on the punches a little? I know I need to learn this, but I'd rather keep my pretty face intact in the process," he chuckled lightly, showing he was taking all this with good humour.

He dodged the first few punches easily enough, but he still fell back with each one where he could have simply swayed out of the way. It looked as if Nicky was still a long way to go from reaching Linnea's own level of Kenbunshoku Haki but even still he had made good progress today, and that was worth something. Lin stopped completely when he actually took a punch to the nose.

"Oh gods im so sorry!!", she rushed over to help without any attack this time, but it turned out that Flash was still alright, at least morally speaking. Smiling thankfully that she hadn't done any major damage, Linnea decided to move on to the next stage of his training, "I think you have a good enough grasp on Kenbunshoku for now.", Linnea crossed her arms and nodded, before looking to the training dummies beside her, "There's another type of Haki you can master, used by concentrating your aura ove your skin like a form of armor."

She would kick one of the training dummies without infusing it with Haki, showing how it would wobble slightly, but nothing too special. Then she would use her Busoshoku. Her right kicking leg would be instantly coated with a dark, charcoal black aura, and she would kick the training dummy again. This time, her kick would obliterate the training dummy from the 'waist' up with sheer impact, as Linnea turned back to flash and noted one other detail he had probably already realized, "Of course, if the armor is hard enough it can have offensive power too. This is called Busoshoku Haki, or Color of Armament."

All of this time Linnea noticed how Flash seemed to flinch whenever he used some of his dials, perhaps if he mastered this ability he could reduce the obvious recoil slightly? It was worth a shot and the moment he realized that potential he would be more than capable of finding a motivation to get even stronger

Used D-rank buso

Note: Sorry for the delay and small post, muse has been a bit low these days...

With that accidental punch to the face, it looked like they were moving away from Kenbunshoku for the day. He could probably practice it later, maybe with less chance of his face getting accidentally broken to pieces in the process. Sure, he knew his captain didn't mean any harm to him, but accidents did happen.

However, the next part of the training definitely caught Nicholas' attention. Busoshoku Haki she called it. The ability to effectively create a form of armour around yourself, strengthening you and your attacks. Now THAT was something Nicholas could get into. Nicholas already considered his kicks powerful enough, but combined with this and his dials, well, let's just say Nicholas was going to be a force of nature when he learned how to use this. Then the usual question popped into Nicholas' mind.

"So, how does one do this anyway? I mean, I know Kenbunshoku involves reaching out with your senses and the such, but I get the feeling that isn't really going to work here. What do I do? Focus on a part of my body I want to coat in haki or something?" One could tell that he was rather excited to learn this particular style of Haki.